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title: December 2023 newsletter

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# December 2023 Newsletter: The Look Forward Edition




From a rewarding FOSDEM devroom in Brussels during a winter-dry February to sharing the stage with public code thought leaders in Tallinn and engaging in the global policy conversation in Addis Ababa, 2023 has come full circle for us at the Foundation for Public Code.
These good times, however, came with significant changes. It was also the year when Boris, our co-founder and former CEO, left  to [set up the first open source program office (OSPO)](https://www.digitaleoverheid.nl/nieuws/bzk-richt-open-source-program-office-op/) at a Dutch government ministry, the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations. We're very excited for this big step in the government  OSPO movement and for Boris.

Reflecting on our year, we believe we have made significant progress in our mission to make public-purpose software more open, accountable, and replicable. And, let's not forget, equitable! The great thing is that the journey is only beginning. 

In the spirit of the new year, we welcome you to our special edition of the newsletter, The Forward Look Edition. What's in store for us in 2024? How might we collaborate with you?

## Events ahead!
+ FOSDEM - see above
+ [State of OpenCon](https://stateofopencon.com/) in London in February
+ Hosting a podcast booth at [FOSS Backstage](https://24.foss-backstage.de/) in Berlin in March

## Start the year with us at FOSDEM. What to expect
+ We will have a [devroom at FOSDEM](https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/track/public-code-and-digital-public-goods/) in Brussels the first weekend of February co-hosted with the Digital Public Goods Alliance. This devroom is dedicated to everyone developing public code - open source code that implements public policy, used for the public good, and by public organizations like governments, public administrations and state corporations.
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## Organizational restructuring

Launching our North America chapter is part of some broader changes we started making in 2023. We’re changing our legal form to become a global umbrella organization with local chapters. We will no longer have public organizations as association members because this proved too challenging for most interested organizations; instead, we plan to work with public organizations as partners.

Our mission, expertise, and core activities (codebase stewardship, capability building in public organizations) have stayed the same. Precisely what each local chapter will focus on will depend on local needs and opportunities and their funding model (though all will be non-profit). We already have a North American chapter and plan one in Europe.

We hope the transition will be complete by early 2024. We’d love your thoughts on how we can make this successful.

## North America update

2023 brought the launch of the Foundation for Public Code North America chapter, led by Matthew Claudel, Max Carlson, and Amy Darling. Many exciting projects are in progress, including coalescing common goals for spatial mapping projects in cities spanning the US from Portland, OR, to Austin, TX, to Boston, MA. 

The North America chapter is also: 
* confirming its status as a 501(c)3 nonprofit 
* providing capacity building workshops and exercises to public administrations
* collecting research on and publish new process codes
* establishing additional communities of practice
* orchestrating distributed procurement activities coordinating public administrations


## Assessments against the Standard for Public Code 

In 2023, 15 codebases were assessed towards the Standard for Public Code, up by six from 2022, and ten of the codebase communities have published the assessment publicly. We're also pleased to witness the strong commitment to the Standard for Public Code, with [many of them using our new commitment badge](https://blog.publiccode.net/news/2023/09/12/standard-for-pubic-code-commitment-badge.html). The community's diligent work refining the standard's requirements for user-friendliness has significantly accelerated its adoption.


## Codebases we work with

* [Omgevingsbeleid](https://publiccode.net/codebases/omgevingsbeleid.html)
* [Circulaw](https://publiccode.net/codebases/circulaw.html)
* [Open Source Project Template](https://publiccode.net/codebases/open-source-project-template.html) 
* [Signalen](https://publiccode.net/codebases/signalen.html) 
* [OpenZaak](https://publiccode.net/codebases/openzaak.html)

We're also working to support the creation of an international community of practice around GOV.UK Notify, and advising Ukraine’s DIIA on their replication process and opening up the codebase.


## Dive into our Toolbox in the new year. A comprehensive list of resources at the Foundation
* [The Governance Game](https://governancegame.publiccode.net/) - we now have a solid supply and would be happy to ship a game to anyone who would need one for their public code project. Just reply to this email with your shipping address and tell us how you plan to use it and we'll have it shipped early next year.
* [Let's talk about public code](https://podcast.publiccode.net) - in the fourteenth edition of #ltapc, we spoke with Åsa Jagre and Konstantin Ay who are working on a Jitsi plugin for Outlook. We discussed up-stream first development and code collaboration. Listen here. Stay tuned for more engaging episodes in 2024! If you have suggestions for topics and guests you'd like to hear, please share your ideas with us.
* In 2023, we launched of our first [process code](https://processcode.publiccode.net/) - with focus on software procurement. A virtual coffee chat is being organized periodically around this subject. Let us know if you'd like to join the next one.


We're looking forward to a productive 2024.







